Thursday, July 28, 2011

In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted one limited incursion into the southern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

At approximately 06:00, IOF moved nearly 300 meters into al-Qarara village, northeast of Khan Yunis. They leveled areas of Palestinian land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. They withdrew from the area at approximately 09:30 and no casualties were reported.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted two limited incursion into the southern and central Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

At approximately 09:40, IOF moved nearly 200 meters into the east of al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.They leveled areas of Palestinian land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.They moved back to the border at approximately 17:30.

Monday, 18 July 2011

At approximately 01:40, IOF moved nearly 250 meters into the east of Khuza’a village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis.They leveled areas of Palestinian land along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.They moved back to the border at approximately 07:00.

Israeli warplanes attacked a number of civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip. -Two industrial workshops and a warehouse of fodders were destroyed and a number of civilian facilities and houses were damaged.-A Palestinian woman was injured.

In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted a limited incursion into the southern Gaza Strip, during which they leveled areas of Palestinian land.

Thursday, 07 July 2011At approximately 06:00, IOF moved nearly 300 meters into the east of ‘Abassan village, east of the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis.They leveled areas of Palestinian land.They then moved southwards to Khuza’a village, and leveled area of Palestinian land there also.During this incursion, IOF opened fire sporadically.IOF pulled back to the border between the Gaza Strip and Israeli nearly 5 hours later.

Saturday, 09 July 2011

At approximately 19:30, Israeli soldiers stationed on observation towards at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northwest of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia fired at Tamam Salah Abu Mtair, 31, from al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, when she got close to the border.As a result, she was wounded by a bullet to the right leg.According to her sister, she suffers from a psychological disorder.She had been missing since 16:00 on the same day.Medical crews found her only 5 meters away from the border.

Sunday, 10 July 2011

At approximately 00:05, Israeli warplane fired a missile at a space area near a brick factory belonging to Yousef ‘Abdullah Hassanain in the east of al-Shuja’iya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.The factory and two houses belonging to Mohammed Yousef Hassanain and Ayman Abu ‘Asser were damaged.

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

At approximately 01:30, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a 500-square-meter car greasing workshop belonging to Ashraf Mohammed Loulu in Yaffa Street in the eastr of Gaza City.The workshop was completely destroyed.A nearby 300-square-meter store belonging to Eyad Rajab, a barrack belonging to the Hamada family and a smith workshop belonging to the al-Qassas family were also damaged.Additionally, Amani ‘Essam ‘Ouda, 20, was injured by glass fragments.

At approximately 03:30, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a 250-square-meter iron lathing workshop belonging to Shareef Mohammed Loulu in Yaffa Street in the east of Gaza City.The workshop was completely destroyed.

At approximately 23:10, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at a tunnel on the Egyptian border near al-Shouka village, east of Rafah.No casualties were reported.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Three years of protests have come and gone in Beit Hanoun. Every week, for three years, the people of Beit Hanoun have come out to protest against the occupation, against the wall that prevents them from returning to their homes in ’48, against the buffer zone which prevents them from farming their land. Three years isn’t so long though, three years is only a blip in their sixty three year old struggle to return to their land. The people of Beit Hanoun have survived the Nakba, the Naqsa, the Occupation, Cast Lead, and still they have not given up. So every week, every Tuesday, for over three years now, they have marched into the buffer zone to visit their land which they are not allowed to farm, to remind the world that justice has still not been achieved.
We set off at 11 o’clock this morning. About 30 people, residents of Beit Hanoun, Gaza, internationals, set off toward the buffer zone. The sun was beating down, the flags were raised up high, Bella Ciao boomed from the loudspeaker. As always, the march starts out in high spirits, as we get closer to the buffer zone, everyone gets progressively tenser; eyes scan the wall and the hills more carefully. We enter the buffer zone, the dead zone, where every tree has been destroyed by the Israeli’s, where nothing is allowed to live without being attacked regularly by Israeli bulldozers. We stop a short distance inside the buffer zone. Sabur Zaineen from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative gives a short speech, specifically against the collaboration of European governments in perpetuating the siege on Gaza, for stopping the Freedom Flotilla II. The loudspeaker is handed off to someone else and chants against the occupation echo out over the dead zone and toward the Israeli soldiers ensconced in their concrete towers. Hopefully, someone is listening; someone will pause for just a moment in their daily life and think about what a life without justice, what a life under siege feels like. Hopefully, that person will decide to fight for justice.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Israeli warplanes attacked a number of civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip. A store of fodders was bombarded and a number of civilian facilities were damaged.

Tuesday, 05 July 2011

At approximately 23:30, Israeli warplanes fired a missile at a number of activists of the Palestinian resistance near a 1,000-squre-meter store of fodders belonging to Isma’il Helmi al-Najjar in the east of Gaza City. The missile hit the store and damaged it.Three activists were also lightly wounded. Additionally, a nearby tire workshop belonging to the Dughmosh family and a house belonging to Hafez ‘Aashour Dughmosh were damaged.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Every Tuesday morning there is a demonstration against the Occupation in Beit Hanoun, when people march into the buffer zone, demand an end to the occupation, and are met with more bullets from the occupation. Today was different and yet the same; today we didn’t go into the buffer zone, but none the less we were still met with the bullets of the occupation.
School is out for the summer, summer camps for the children are in full swing. In Beit Hanoun the Vittorio Arrigoni, Stay Human summer camp has been up and running for the last two weeks. Instead of going into the buffer zone like we do most Tuesdays, today we took the children from the summer camp to fly kites. The children had prepared beautiful kites, simple colorful geometric designs fringed with strips of paper cut from their old homework. Kites that remind you how beautiful the simplest things in life can be.
We drove east out of Beit Hanoun, toward the wall that imprisons the people of Gaza. As we left Beit Hanoun we entered a lunar landscape of destruction, no crops, no trees, the occasional destroyed and damaged buildings surrounded by the thistle plants that seem to grow everywhere. This is where farmers had once grown their crops. The landscape here wasn’t always like this, the fields lining the road used to be full of trees, oranges, and olives mostly. The area used to be green, it used to support life, it used to be beautiful. Then the Israelis destroyed all of this, with tanks and bulldozers and bombs. Now, only the thistles remain, that and the green fields of one brave farmer who has not given up, whose fields are an oasis of green among the destruction. The woman sitting behind me points out the aluminum propellers that the farmer has attached to his fence to scare away birds, they spin quickly in the wind, a reminder that this is someone’s land, that he is still here.
We arrive with the children on a hill about 700 meters from the wall. There is a restored well nearby, and a shepherd resta under the shade of the only tree on the hill with his sheep. In the distance you can see Sderot, built on what used to be lands of Beit Hanoun. The children stood poised, ready with their kites. As they prepared to launch their kites the Israeli guns start firing. The wall is lined with giant Israeli gun towers operated by remote control. One of them had started to shoot. Shooting into the ground a couple of hundred meters from us, the shells kicked up giant clouds of dust.
What are they shooting at? Nobody knows, perhaps an unlucky shepherd, perhaps they are shooting to remind the children who the real boss is here, that the skies are not free, that they can shoot at them whenever and wherever they want.
The children launched the kites, with the strong wind kicking them up to sail high. The kites were amazing, red and green with white streamers fluttering in the wind. The children had written messages on the kites: “The children of Gaza want to be free,” “No to the occupation,” “No to the siege.”
These were messages for the occupiers, for these kites are not meant merely to be seen in the distance by the soldiers who are firing guns in the distance, they are meant to infiltrate Israel, to breach the wall that imprisons Gaza, the wall that helps hide what Israel does here. The kites soar higher and higher, the children cut the strings on the kites, the wind takes them, some crash, but some survive, some make it over the wall.
Inshallah they will find themselves caught in the branches of the children’s grandfather’s olive tree, of the orange trees which their grandmothers used to eat from. They will be found, and their messages will be read with the freedom and the will like the universal wind that carried such messages of hope

About this blog

This is a blog about Gaza farmers, workers and all the civilian population living in Gaza Strip rural communities along the Green Line, suffering from daily Israeli attacks and resisting the implementation of a so called "buffer zone" by the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Note: this blog is focusing on Israeli attacks on civilians inside or around the so called "buffer zone". Attacks on resistance fighters, or attacks, usually airstrikes on civilians further inside the Gaza Strip, or along the Egypt border (apart from the eastern areas such as Al Shoka or the airport area) are usually not mentioned. For the attacks of the Israeli Navy see http://fishingunderfire.blogspot.com/